Future Untold - Choices
by Captain Morigyn Leri
Summary: Crichton's story in the arc.
1. Chapter 1

Crighton watched the crash site of his module, and sighed. No sign of anyone having come to answer the distress call. At least here the Peacekeepers wouldn't find him, not among the other inhabitants of this planet.

"What are you looking at, Crigh-ton?" A woman came up beside him. She had a heavy accent, reminiscent of eastern Europe, to Crighton's ears. "No one has been there for montes. No one except you. There is no one coming for you. No one! And if Peacekeepers come, they will not find you, and they will not leave this planet alive." She snorted. "They would die in our heat, as they have everytime before."

Crighton shrugged, knowing he'd been surprised by the balmy weather on this planet. "Then no one comes, Shaniri. I won't give up hoping."

"You are crazy, Crigh-ton." She shook her head, then looked up at the rumbling sound of a ship descending through atmosphere. She hissed as the marauder cleared the clouds, and shoved Crighton back towards the village. "Run, Crigh-ton. They will not get past the plains." She stepped out into the open, assuming a familiar stance, one that had heralded the thrashing of Crighton in a practice ring several times.

A prowler followed the marauder, landing beside the module. John watched as Aeryn climbed out of the prowler, striding over towards the module. "Aeryn?" His voice was a whisper, and a moment later, he was running out of the forest towards them, hearing Shaniri yelling behind him, angrily.

Aeryn looked up as he got closer, and smiled, making John's heart skip a beat, as he scooped her up, whirling her around. He set her down, and kissed her firmly. "Aeryn."

"John."

"Crigh-ton! Are you insane?" Shaniri was striding towards them her face a mask of anger. "They're Peacekeepers!"

"Aeryn, let me introduce you to Sharini. Shar, this is Aeryn Sun."

"Great, you know the Peacekeepers." She threw up her hands in frustration. "Why did mother ever think you were in need of help? You brought them here, and now what will happen to us?" She growled, turning away.

"One moment, Aeryn." John grabbed Sharini's upper arm, and recieved her famous death glare in return.

"Let go of my arm, Crigh-ton. Unless you want thrashed without the benifit of the mats in a practice ring."

"What's with the new attitude, Shar."

Sharini answered by picking his hand off her arm, and twisting it expertly, sending him to his knees in pain. "I told you to remove your hand from my arm, Chrigh-ton. And my attitude' is nothing new." She glared at the Peacekeepers. "I don't trust Peacekeepers. They are one of two scourges in this universe. And the other doesn't mind the heat. Not to mention, they're harder to kill."

"We aren't exactly Peacekeepers. We're renegades."

"And? You are still wearing thier uniform." Shaniri watched them warily.

"Trust her, Shar. If she says they aren't PK's, they aren't."

Shaniri looked down at Crighton, shaking her head. "I will trust them as far as I can throw them, Crigh-ton, for your sake. But since I cannot throw them into orbit, this means you are not leaving the planet alone."

John groaned. That meant Shaniri was coming with them. And she wasn't his first choice of companions.

Choice one- try and ditch miss "Humans are crazy"? or let her tag along (well, not really 'tag' along...)?


	2. Chapter 2

Sharini grabbed her weapons, and a few changes of clothing, and strode out of her cottage, and trotted down to where one Prowler waited to pick her up.

"Hold on, dirtsider." The pilot got a growl from Sharini for his insult.

"Call me that again, and you'll be seeing the dirt up close and personal. Permanently."

On the command carrier, John was staring at Aeryn while they waited for the prowler to come up. "What?"

"I didn't come after you. This was my assignment, to find you, and bring you back to High Command. They want to meet you." She was turned away from John, her bearing stiff.

John shook his head, pinching the brow of his nose between his thumb and fore-finger. "Wait a minute... What you're saying is that you wouldn't have come looking for me if you weren't told to?"

"No, I wouldn't have, John."

A very small boy came running into the hanger in front of a man with Commander's rank markings, and wrapped his arms around Aeryn's knees. The man held the hand of a girl of about the same age as the boy, and another boy, older, followed.

"Mommy!" His blue eyes stared at Crighton around his mother, wide in wonder. "Is that Kite-ton?" He mispronounced John's last name badly.

"Yes, Talyn, that's John." Aeryn unwrapped the boy's arms, her voice unexpectedly warm.

John looked at the other man, who carefully extricated his hand from the girls, and approached.

"Commander Velorek." He held out his hand, watching John's face for a reaction.

John took his hand, and shook it. "Commander John Crighton."

"Crigh-ton!" Sharini's strident voice shattered the silence that stretched out after the two men met, and heightened the tension in the room. She looked down at the man from her slightly greater height, her contempt for Peacekeepers very evident. "I am Sharini, daughter of Sokya, Lady of the Solan River Valley."

"Commander Velorek." He turned away, waving Crighton to follow him, Aeryn falling in beside him, and the pilot who'd brought up Sharini, as well as the trio of children bringing up the rear.

"Catain Zaran." The woman behind the desk looked up.

"Sit down, Crighton." She looked over to Velorek. "Thank you, Commander Velorek. You are dismissed." She turned her attention back to Crighton after the man had left. "Well. I never thought I'd meet the infamous, or is it famous John Crighton. Would you like a drink?" She had pulled out a decanter of a deep, ruby red liquid.

"No, thank you." John leaned back in the chair. "So what do the Peacekeepers want from little old me?"

"High Command only left me with orders to bring you back. They gave me no reason why." She replaced the decanter. "I was hoping, perhaps you could shed some light on this matter."

Choice #2 and #3 - How does John react to Aeryn's rejection? Does he continue to persue her, or does he let Sharini comfort him....? Does Sharini have a problem with letting him out of her sight because she feels obligated to protect him, or because she is falling in love, and doesn't care to admit it?


	3. Chapter 3

"Commander." Sharini trotted to catch up with the Peacekeepers. "Commonder Velorek, I need to be able to keep an eye on Crigh-ton. Could you provide me with the means to do so while aboard this ship?"

Velorek turned to look at her, slightly surprised. "Certainly. Why do you need to keep a watch on him?"

"He is not very able to keep a watch on himself, and I feel a sense of obligation to to that for him." She held his gaze, daring him to say otherwise. "Like the sense of obligation to protect a weaker being that some have."

Velorek nodded. "I will see what I can do."

Sharini nodded. "Thank you."

John watched Talyn and Maria as they played with thier classmates in the artificial planet environment. The children of his twin, and Aeryn. And they called Velorek thier father. He looked up when he sensed someone nearby. "Hey, Aeryn." He smiled at her, and she turned away. She'd been doing that everytime he'd ran into her for the last three weekens.

"John, you can't keep doing this."

"Why, Aeryn? Before you left, you said that we'd be together again. Now you're saying we're not."

"Things change, John." Her shoulders were stiff, and John reached out to whirl her around.

"Leave her alone." Maria was looking up at him, her eyes dark. "Leave my mother alone, Crighton. She doesn't want you anymore. Live with it." Behind her, Talyn had attached himself to Aeryn's leg, and was glaring at Crighton.

"Time to go, Maria." Aeryn took the girl's hand, and left John slumped against a tree.

"Why do you persue her still, Crigh-ton? She has said she doesn't want you." Sharini was perched up in the branches, looking down at him.

"Go away, Shar."

She leapt down, landing in a crouch. "Are you completely insane, Crigh-ton? She's taken, with someone else, and you still chase her." She glared, her one hand stedily clenching and unclenching. "It is pointless, and just makes you more upset with each passing day. You can never get your mind off her, even in your sleep..." She stopped abruptly, and John shoved off of the tree.

"What about in my sleep?" She was backing away from him as he came nearer, until he had her backed against a large boulder, and put his hands on either side of her, to keep her from escaping the question.

"No-nothing." Her eyes were wide, and darted from side to side, looking for a way out.

"What about in my sleep, Shar?"

"I said, nothing." Her voice firmed up, and she glared at him, shoving at him. "Get away from me, Crigh-ton. You are too close." She tried to duck out under one of his arms, and he caught her.

"Not until you finish what you were going to say earlier."

"Even in your sleep you call out her name." Sharini drove one elbow into his gut, and he let out his breath in a whoosh. "Now are you happy?" She stalked out, her bearing as stiff as Aeryn's had been earlier.

Choice #4 - Since John's been following Aeryn for three weekens (and I know I didn't write a lot of it, I may write more later, if the muses cooperate), who's going to hurt him first? Aeryn? Velorek? Or the Captain Sozana Zaran, who is tired of hearing official complaints about Crighton from a good half the crew? (Aeryn is a popular person on this ship, can we tell?)


End file.
